图词干扰范式下的语义效应

图-词干扰范式下存在着语义干扰效应（semanticinterferenceeffects,SIE）。研究发现,在图-词干扰范式下,语义干扰词对图片命名或者起干扰作用,或者起促进作用。产生这两种截然不同的语义效应的机制很复杂。主要有两种假说：⑴词汇选择竞争说：认为当干扰词和目标图画有语义关联时,干扰词和目标图画所对应的概念表征相互激活,从而造成语义干扰,词汇节点要通过竞争才能得到选择。⑵相对范畴水平说：认为决定语义效应及效应大小的关键因素是干扰词和目标词之间的范畴水平,如果干扰词和目标图画处在同一范畴的相同水平,则产生语义干扰;如果干扰词和目标图画处在同一范畴的不同水平,则产生语义促进。文章回顾了已有的研究及各种假说的争论,并对未来研究进行了展望     

图-词干扰范式下汉语口吃者的语义编码

采用图-词干扰范式, 通过2个实验考察了汉语口吃者的语义编码。实验1发现, 在基本水平命名中,口吃者与非口吃者均表现出语义干扰效应, 语义相关干扰词的命名时间显著长于语义无关干扰词的命名时间, 口吃者在语义相关干扰条件下所受到的干扰比非口吃者大; 在类别水平命名中, 口吃者与非口吃者的表现类似, 都表现出语义促进效应, 语义相关干扰词的命名时间显著短于语义无关干扰词的命名时间, 语义相关干扰词的命名错误率也显著低于语义无关干扰词的命名错误率。实验2发现, 在基本水平命名中, 当SOA为-200 ms、-100 ms和0 ms时, 语义相关干扰条件下的反应时显著长于在语义无关干扰条件下的反应时, 当SOA为-100 ms和0 ms时, 口吃者的语义干扰效应比非口吃者更加明显。整个研究表明, 口吃者的语义编码出现了延缓, 口吃者比非口吃者需要更多的时间来排除语义干扰词的干扰。研究结果在一定程度上支持了关于口吃的多因素模型。     

汉语名词短语产生中的量词一致性效应

目前,语言产生领域的多数研究都集中在口语词语产生方面,许多研究者针对不同的语言系统的特色,对功能词进行了大量跨语言的研究。汉语量词是汉藏语系独有的功能词,本研究采用词图干扰范式,以名词短语和简单名词两种不同的图片命名任务,探讨了汉语量词的产生过程。实验结果发现,在名词短语命名任务下,存在量词的一致性效应;在名词命名的任务下,则不存在这种一致性效应。研究还发现语义干扰效应在两种不同命名任务下出现了分离。语义干扰效应只在命名名词的任务下出现,在命名名词短语的任务下未被发现。     

不同母语环境下16个月婴儿词汇表征中声调的语义特性

采用跨通道注视偏好范式(IPLP)下的声调错读任务, 探究16个月中英婴儿熟悉词汇表征中普通话声调的音位语义特性(phonological specificity)。结果发现在先正确命名再声调错读的任务顺序下, 中英婴儿均在正确命名时表现出命名效应, 在错读时不能再认目标图片, 表现出错读效应, 说明普通话声调对16个月中英婴儿而言都具备语义特性。     

图-图干扰范式中语义效应的眼动研究*

采用眼动方法,在图-图干扰范式中探讨了干扰图的频率和语义类型对语义判断的影响。结果发现:(1)语义一致性的主效应显著,与目标图语义一致的干扰图获得的注视时间长于与目标图语义不一致的干扰图,证实了语义干扰效应的存在,与Dell的交互激活模型相吻合。(2)干扰图命名的词汇频率主效应不显著,未发现显著的频率效应,对词汇选择竞争假设提出质疑。     

言语产生过程中语义、语音激活的ERP研究

使用ERP技术考察了言语产生过程中语音和语义的激活情况。图片上有3种条件的干扰词,分别与目标图片名称形成3种关系:语义相关,语音相同,语义、语音、字形都不相关。结果显示,当被试执行延迟命名任务(实验1)时,与目标图片名称语义相关和控制条件的波形比语音相关的波形更趋于负向。说明在图片命名过程中语音有明显的促进作用。当要求被试对上述图片进行延迟语义判断任务(实验2)时,与目标图片名称语义相关、语音相关及控制条件的波形之间无明显差异。说明在语义提取过程中没有语音的促进作用。综合实验1和实验2,本研究的结果更倾向于支持独立两阶段模型。     

动作图片语义加工中语音与字形的自动激活

采用图—词一致性判断任务,考察了动作图片语义加工中语音与字形的自动激活及其时间进程。实验1和实验2表明,在动作图片的语义加工中,图片表征的动词的语音和字形信息都自动地激活。实验3和实验4发现,在SOA为100ms时,音同字产生了语音促进效应,形似字却无字形促进效应。当SOA为200ms时,音同字产生了语音干扰效应,形似字产生了字形干扰效应。这表明,在动作图片的语义加工中,图片表征的动词的语音激活出现得比字形激活早。     

汉语句子-图片信息整合的眼动测量

采用眼球追踪-分析法考察了“句子-图片”验证范式下句图信息整合过程中句式和语义关系类型的作用。实验结果表明：（1）汉语句子-图片信息整合过程中,句图继时呈现没有消除语义失配效应,注视次数、总注视时间显著增加,瞳孔直径扩大。语义失配会显著干扰句法难度低的句式的句图信息整合。（2）句式影响句子-图片信息的整合过程,注视次数、总注视时间、瞳孔直径随句法难度增加而增加。（3）汉语句图信息整合过程中,语义失配效应受句式影响,表现出任务的特异性,这说明成分比较模型不具有一般性     

汉语言语产生中的词长效应

采用启动条件下的词汇命名和图片命名范式, 探讨在汉语言语产生中词长效应的产生机制, 考察概念激活、词条提取和语音编码对词长效应的影响。实验1和实验2表明, 词条提取过程并不影响在词汇命名中的词长效应, 支持多词素词整词通达表征的理论。实验3显示, 概念激活和语音编码共同影响在图片命名中的词长效应, 被试对长词的命名时间显著地长于对短词的命名时间, 对下属水平概念的词汇提取显著地慢于对基本水平概念的词汇提取。研究结果支持多词素词语音编码的序列性和基本水平类别优先习得的观点。     

汉语词汇习得的年龄效应：语义假设的证据

通过三个实验考察了词汇加工中的习得年龄效应。实验一对比了汉字命名和图片命名中词汇习得的年龄效应,发现图片命名中存在着较大的词汇习得的年龄效应,汉字命名中没有出现这种效应。实验二和实验三分别采用语义范畴判断任务和图片语义分类任务,两个实验均发现了词汇习得的年龄效应。实验结果说明,词汇习得的年龄效应至少部分来源于语义加工的层次,结果支持了语义假设的观点     

图词间隔时间影响口语词汇产生中语义效应的机制：图词干扰范式研究

口语词汇产生过程中存在语义抑制和语义促进效应, 可能发生在概念准备和词汇选择或者后词汇水平阶段。本研究采用图画-词汇干扰实验任务, 变化图画与词汇出现点之间的时间间隔(stimulus onset asynchrony, SOA), 运用脑电技术考察口语词汇产生中语义效应发生的时间进程。结果显示, 当SOA为0 ms时表现出语义抑制效应, 语义效应发生在词汇选择阶段(344~418 ms); 当SOA为-400 ms时, 语义效应发生在概念准备阶段(0~76 ms)和词汇选择阶段(274~390 ms); 460~594 ms时间窗口内的语义效应可能表明讲话者对语义信息的自我监测。词汇产生中存在语义促进效应和抑制效应的权衡, 影响了行为结果中语义效应的方向, 上述发现支持了口语词汇产生的词汇竞争假说。     

Congruency effects in conceptualizing for speech

In naming a picture at the basic level, a semantically related distractor word induces interference in comparison to an unrelated word. When the task is changed from basic-level naming to categorization, however, this effect reverses to semantic facilitation. In previous studies, this semantic facilitation effect was attributed to “message congruency” at the conceptual level. The present study examines the nature of this message congruency effect: Is it due to competition between two activated category concepts in the incongruent condition or is it due to convergence of activity on a single category concept in the congruent condition? Two experiments show that neither the strength with which the context stimulus activates an incongruent category concept nor the semantic distance between the category concepts activated by target and distractor affect target categorization speed. We conclude that the message congruency effect is most likely due to convergence on a single category concept in the category-congruent condition.     

Semantic interference in a delayed naming task: evidence for the response exclusion hypothesis

In 2 experiments participants named pictures of common objects with superimposed distractor words. In one naming condition, the pictures and words were presented simultaneously on every trial, and participants produced the target response immediately. In the other naming condition, the presentation of the picture preceded the presentation of the distractor by 1,000 ms, and participants delayed production of their naming response until distractor word presentation. Within each naming condition, the distractor words were either semantic category coordinates of the target pictures or unrelated. Orthogonal to this manipulation of semantic relatedness, the frequency of the pictures' names was manipulated. The authors observed semantic interference effects in both the immediate and delayed naming conditions but a frequency effect only in the immediate naming condition. These data indicate that semantic interference can be observed when target picture naming latencies do not reflect the bottleneck at the level of lexical selection. In the context of other findings from the picture-word interference paradigm, the authors interpret these data as supporting the view that the semantic interference effect arises at a postlexical level of processing.     

Semantic interference in picture naming during dual-task performance does not vary with reading ability

Previous dual-task studies examining the locus of semantic interference of distractor words in picture naming have obtained diverging results. In these studies, participants manually responded to tones and named pictures while ignoring distractor words (picture–word interference, PWI) with varying stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between tone and PWI stimulus. Whereas some studies observed no semantic interference at short SOAs, other studies observed effects of similar magnitude at short and long SOAs. The absence of semantic interference in some studies may perhaps be due to better reading skill of participants in these than in the other studies. According to such a reading-ability account, participants’ reading skill should be predictive of the magnitude of their interference effect at short SOAs. To test this account, we conducted a dual-task study with tone discrimination and PWI tasks and measured participants’ reading ability. The semantic interference effect was of similar magnitude at both short and long SOAs. Participants’ reading ability was predictive of their naming speed but not of their semantic interference effect, contrary to the reading ability account. We conclude that the magnitude of semantic interference in picture naming during dual-task performance does not depend on reading skill.     

Semantic interference in language production is due to graded similarity,not response relevance

There is an ongoing debate on the question whether semantic interference effects in language production reflect competitive processes at the level of lexical selection or whether they reflect a post-lexical bottleneck, occupied in particular by response-relevant distractor words. To disentangle item-inherent categorical relatedness and task-related response relevance effects, we combined the picture–word interference task with the conditional naming paradigm in an orthogonal design, varying categorical relatedness and task-related response relevance independent of each other. Participants were instructed to name only objects that are typically seen in or on the water (e.g. canoe) and refrain from naming objects that are typically located outside the water (e.g. bike), and vice versa. Semantic relatedness and the response relevance of superimposed distractor words were manipulated orthogonally. The pattern of results revealed no evidence for response relevance as a major source of semantic interference effects in the PWI paradigm. In contrast, our data demonstrate that semantic similarity beyond categorical relations is critical for interference effects to be observed. Together, these findings provide support for the assumption that lexical selection is competitive and that semantic interference effects in the PWI paradigm reflect this competition.     

Semantic competition between hierarchically related words during speech planning

There is overwhelming evidence that during speech planning semantically related words become lexically activated and compete for selection with the to-be-produced target word. The vast majority of this evidence stems from studies using the picture-word task, in which a distractor word (e.g., bird) drawn from the same semantic category as the target (e.g., fish) was shown to inhibit the picture-naming response more strongly than did an unrelated distractor word. By contrast, corresponding evidence from distractor words (e.g., carp) bearing a hierarchical relation to the target (e.g., fish) is sparse and inconclusive. In the present study, we investigated effects of subordinate-level distractors during basic-level naming and effects of basic-level distractors during subordinate-level naming. Hierarchically related distractors were found to inhibit the naming response in both situations. This pattern of results did not depend on whether the pictures were preferably named at the basic level or at the subordinate level. The results suggest that hierarchically related name alternatives compete for selection.     

On the categorical nature of the semantic interference effect in the picture-word interference paradigm

Two picture-word interference experiments are reported in which the boundaries of the semantic interference effect are explored. In both experiments, participants named pictures (e.g., a picture of a car) that appeared with superimposed word distractors. Distractor words from the same semantic category as the word for the picture (e.g., CAR) produced semantic interference, whereas semantically related distractors from a different category (e.g.,Bumper) led to semantic facilitation. In Experiment 2, the semantic facilitation from semantically related distractors was replicated. These results indicate that a semantic relationship between picture and distractor does not necessarily lead to interference and in fact can lead to facilitation. In all but one case tested until now, a semantic relationship between picture and distractor has led to semantic facilitation. The implications of these results for the assumption that the semantic interference effect arises as a consequence of lexical competition are discussed.     

Semantic component of a cross-modal Stroop-like task

Three experiments showed that the pattern of interference of single-modality Stroop tests also exists cross-modally. Distractors and targets were either pictures or auditory words. In a naming task (Experiment 1), word distractors from the same semantic category as picture targets interfered with picture naming more than did semantically unrelated distractors; the semantic category of picture distractors did not differentially affect word naming. In a categorization task (Experiment 2), this Stroop-like effect was reversed: Picture distractors from the same semantic category as word targets interfered less with word categorization than picture distractors that were semantically unrelated; the semantic category of word distractors did not differentially affect picture categorization. Experiment 3 replicated these effects when each subject performed both tasks; the task, naming or categorizing, determined the pattern of interference between pictures and auditory words. The results thus support the existence of a semantic component of a cross-modal Stroop-like effect.     

Feature overlap slows lexical selection: Evidence from the picture–word interference paradigm

How does the presence of a categorically related word influence picture naming latencies? In order to test competitive and noncompetitive accounts of lexical selection in spoken word production, we employed the picture–word interference (PWI) paradigm to investigate how conceptual feature overlap influences naming latencies when distractors are category coordinates of the target picture. Mahon et al. (2007. Lexical selection is not by competition: A reinterpretation of semantic interference and facilitation effects in the picture-word interference paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33(3), 503–535. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.33.3.503) reported that semantically close distractors (e.g., zebra) facilitated target picture naming latencies (e.g., HORSE) compared to far distractors (e.g., whale). We failed to replicate a facilitation effect for within-category close versus far target–distractor pairings using near-identical materials based on feature production norms, instead obtaining reliably larger interference effects (Experiments 1 and 2). The interference effect did not show a monotonic increase across multiple levels of within-category semantic distance, although there was evidence of a linear trend when unrelated distractors were included in analyses (Experiment 2). Our results show that semantic interference in PWI is greater for semantically close than for far category coordinate relations, reflecting the extent of conceptual feature overlap between target and distractor. These findings are consistent with the assumptions of prominent competitive lexical selection models of speech production.